Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Tickets: Touting

lord moynihan: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the statement by the Minister of State for Digital on 26 April (HC Deb, col 1125), what progress has been made to prohibit the use of bots to procure tickets for high demand sporting events and concerts.

lord ashton of hyde: We are determined to crackdown on unacceptable behaviour and improve fans’ chances of buying tickets at a reasonable price. S.106 of the Digital Economy Act provides us with the power to create a specific offence, where tickets are purchased electronically, of purchasing more tickets than the maximum permitted. We have undertaken an informal consultation with over a hundred relevant organisations to help inform our implementation of this provision in the Act. We will shortly notify the European Commission and Member States of the proposed legislation which is in scope of the Technical Standards Directive’s three month notification process before looking to securing a legislative slot next year.

Ministry of Justice

Prisoners: Females

baroness fall: To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of womenin prison are there for non-violent offences; and what percentage of those women are mothers of children under the age of 18.

baroness fall: To ask Her Majesty's Government in relation to womenin prison for non-violent offences,(1) how manyare mothers to children under the age of 18, (2) what is the average length of their prison sentences, and (3) what percentage of those women are re-offenders.

lord keen of elie: As of 30 September 2017, 73% of all female prisoners (including those held on remand) were held for a non-violent offence (i.e. assuming that a non-violent offence refers to all offence groups besides the ‘Violent Against The Person’ offence group). Information on the percentage of female prisoners held for a non-violent offence who are mothers of children under the age of 18 is not held centrally. The average prison sentence length for all sentenced female offenders with a determinate sentence (i.e. including recalls, civil offenders and fine defaulters, but excluding those serving indeterminate sentences) for a non-violent offence was 38.3 months. The information requested on the percentage of women in prison for non-violent offences who are re-offenders could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Prisoners: Mothers

baroness fall: To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of children aged under 18 whose mothers are imprisoned are (1)taken intocare, and (2) looked after by close relatives.

lord keen of elie: The information requested is not held centrally.

Prisoners: Mothers

baroness fall: To ask Her Majesty's Government what provision is made for children aged under 18 whose mothers have been imprisoned to visit their mothers.

lord keen of elie: Family engagement workers are in place in all public sector female prisons and meet all prisoners on induction to identify any support required to maintain or establish family contact. A new contract for family services was awarded across the female estate, excluding HMP Styal who elected to undertake a separate regional procurement exercise for family services, in October 2017. The new contract allows women’s prisons to work closely with a single professional family services provider to develop innovative services including those to support children visiting imprisoned mothers. There are statutory minimum prison visit entitlements and standards that prisons must meet for visiting families, including children. Prison Rules also require Governors to encourage and promote family ties. Women’s prisons are working to provide other support, beyond the statutory minimum, for improved family links. This includes family days, child-centred visits, homework clubs and specific relationship and parenting skills programmes. Family days can involve contributions from education providers, voluntary and third-sector agencies to support organised activities with the prisoners and their children. If they require it, families of female offenders can seek financial support for visits. The assisted prison visits scheme promotes family ties by contributing to the costs of prison visits by providing help with travel expenses to prisoners’ close relatives, a partner or a friend (if classed as a sole visitor) who meet the qualifying rules on income. Children (under 18 years old) are included, providing that their responsible guardian is in receipt of a qualifying low income benefit on behalf of the child and is able to escort the child to the prison.

Ministry of Defence

Cyprus: Military Bases

lord sharkey: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) Greek Cypriots, and (2) Turkish Cypriots, have been employed at each of the British Sovereign Bases in Cyprus in each of the last five years, broken down by pay grade.

earl howe: The numbers of Greek Cypriots (GC) and Turkish Cypriots (TC) employed in the Eastern Sovereign Base Area (ESBA) and the Western Sovereign Base Area (WSBA) over the last five years are as follows. 2017ESBAESBAWSBAWSBAGreek / Turkish CypriotGCTCGCTCGrade 11 - 1250100Grade 9 - 10135752450Grade 7 - 8165151350Grade 5 - 6355650Grade 3 - 41510650Grade 1 - 255100 2016ESBAESBAWSBAWSBAGreek / Turkish CypriotGCTCGCTCGrade 11 - 1250100Grade 9 - 10140752450Grade 7 - 865151350Grade 5 - 63510700Grade 3 - 41510650Grade 1 - 255100 2015ESBAESBAWSBA WSBA Greek / Turkish CypriotGCTCGCTCGrade 11 - 1250100 Grade 9 - 10130702400 Grade 7 - 865151300 Grade 5 - 63510300 Grade 3 - 41510600 Grade 1 - 2551002014ESBAESBAWSBAWSBAGreek / Turkish CypriotGCTCGCTCGrade 11 - 1250100Grade 9 - 10135752550Grade 7 - 865151300Grade 5 - 63510750Grade 3 - 42010700Grade 1 - 255150 2013ESBAESBAWSBAWSBAGreek / Turkish CypriotGCTCGCTCGrade 11 - 1250100Grade 9 - 10140752500Grade 7 - 865151300Grade 5 - 64010750Grade 3 - 42010750Grade 1 - 255150 Note:The statistics provided for Cypriot employees based in both the Eastern Sovereign Base Areas and Western Sovereign Base Areas are based on the current Sovereign Base Area Administration and British Forces Cyprus pay banding scales. The figures given are rounded to the nearest 5.

Cyprus: Military Bases

lord sharkey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimates of the proportionate numbers of the communities in Cyprus they have used each of the last five years in fulfilling their obligation under Paragraph 2 of Section 7 of Part II of Annex B of the 1960 Treaty concerning the Establishment of the Republic of Cyprus to employ only Cypriot staff and labour in the Island of Cyprus, provided that such staff and labour are available and qualified to do the work; and what was the evidence base for those estimates.

earl howe: The Sovereign Base Areas Administration does not routinely undertake estimates of the proportionate number of the communities in Cyprus. As far as possible, the employment of Cypriot nationals is based on the obligations contained within the 1960 Treaty of Establishment, with recruitment based on fair and open competition across both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. At the present time there are 920 Cypriot nationals employed by the UK authorities in the Sovereign Base Areas; representing 72 per cent of the local workforce in the Bases. Currently 810 of these staff are from the Greek Cypriot community, with 110 Turkish Cypriots. These figures have remained relatively consistent over the last five years. The remaining 28 per cent of the local workforce (355 posts) are filled by UK nationals; primarily dependants of personnel posted across the Sovereign Base Areas. These posts are screened when a vacancy arises to confirm that the required exemption remains extant, which includes security restrictions, qualification requirements and first language proficiency. Note:Figures relating to personnel numbers are rounded to the nearest 5.